How to plan your routines {and a free printable workbook}
The easiest way to get organised is to have routines. Your routines are comprised of the things you want to do and the places you need to be on a regular basis.
When you have your routines planned out in advance, you don’t need to stress about what to do with your time or worry that you’ll forget something because you’ve already taken care of it. You’ll also free up valuable brain space for fun things and creativity.
To set up your routines for the year ahead, you'll need the Lorna Leigh Lane Routines Workbook. Print out the four worksheets and then spend some time identifying and recording your daily, monthly, quarterly, twice-yearly and yearly routines.
In this workbook you will find the following four worksheets:
Here, you can list all the things you have to do each day and all of the things you’d realistically like to do each day. The sheet is split into four sections:
MY MORNING TASKS
MY DAYTIME TASKS
MY AFTERNOON TASKS
Include any habits you'd like to get into, like drinking warm water with lemon every morning. At first, this sheet will serve as a reminder but after a while, it will become a habit and you won't need the reminder anymore.
Now, just stick it on the fridge or somewhere that you can reference it throughout the day to keep on track and make sure you don’t forget anything.
Record everything you want to do and attend on certain days of the week. On this worksheet, each day is split into three different categories:
EVENTS
Here you can list general reminders or events such as:
~ For yourself: work days, travelling days, shopping days etc
~ For others: sports days and library days at school or when homework is due
APPOINTMENTS
These are time sensitive responsibilities like:
~ Monday: 9.00 am – School assembly
~ Tuesday: 4.30 pm – Hockey training
TASKS
Record the tasks you need to do on a particular day each week such as:
Tuesday: wash school uniforms
Thursday: pay bills
Once you’ve finished filling out this worksheet, transfer all of these events, appointments and tasks into your planner or diary.
You may not have a lot to fill out here but it’s a good opportunity to book yourself in for regular tasks such as:
On the 1st of each month: catch up on bookwork
On the 10th of each month: do the filing
Or even use this as a way to remind yourself to book in something fun like a family activity or date nights once a month. Now transfer these tasks into your planner as well.
Finally, here is where you list everything that happens on a quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis such as:
March and September – vaccinate the dog
June – book in dental appointments for the family
Again, you may not have many here but without this worksheet, it’s easy to forget quite important things because they don’t roll around very often. Then transfer them into your planner to be sure that you will remember to do them.
You'll probably find that your daily and weekly routines change throughout the year so you may want to revisit these worksheets every few months but your monthly and yearly worksheets will probably only need to be added to here and there as the year goes on.
To get your free Routines Workbook, click here. Happy planning!